Air Raid Shelters

Glasgow City Archives, Photographic Series

Air raid shelters (the two structures with the light coloured roofs to the right of the photograph) in an unidentified tenement backcourt during the Second World War. Shelters were built all over the city following the outbreak of war, but provision was patchy. Some shelters built by profiteering building firms were found to be sub-standard.

The shelters proved effective against flying debris, but were vulnerable to direct hits. In March 1941, a landmine exploded on a shelter in a backcourt off Dumbarton Road in Scotstoun. The explosion and subsequent fires devastated the shelter and surrounding buildings and resulted in sixty-six deaths and injuries to sixty others.

Reference: P1555

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning